Zwischenräume (In-between spaces)

Zwischenräume constitutes an intervention which seeks to develop an autonomous sculptural practice. Zwischenräume accomplishes this by embedding robots into the architectural fabric of a gallery space. It is the first installation in a series of works that explore the anatomical trauma of a machine augmented environment and its performative potential. Confined behind walls that separate them from visitors, the robots produce cracks, holes and scars to survey, collaborate, provoke, conspire, and intervene. Each machine is equipped with a camera allowing it to “see” visitors and opportunities for infiltration, as well as a hammer or pick-like tool used to break through the space.

The aim of this robotic sculptural practice is to attach a process to the environment, rather than creating a machine spectacle. The environment evolves based on mutual perturbations between the material conditions of the space, the movements and actions of its inhabitants, and the adaptive behaviours of the machine agents. Zwischenräume was exhibited at the Schauraum Angewandte at the Museums Quartier 21, Vienna, 2010.

Zwischenräume was supported by a COFA Faculty Research Grant and a New Work Grant from the Medienkunstbeirat (Media Arts Board) of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture.